After weeks of closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sabarimala temple in Kerala on Saturday opened its doors for five days to allow devotees to conduct monthly rituals.

The temple will remain open from today till July 21. COVID-19 protocol, including wearing masks and social distancing, will be strictly followed. A maximum of 5000 devotees will be allowed through the online booking system.

Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu has called a meeting of all floor leaders of the Upper house at his residence on Saturday, ahead of the Monsoon session of the Parliament from July 19.

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has been appointed as the Leader of House in the Rajya Sabha.

All religious programmes and congregations, including those of the upcoming Kanwar Yatra and Eid-ul-Zuha, have been banned in Rajasthan as part of the state government's efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19.

As per the notification, even the annual Mudiya Poono Mela, which is organized every year in Mathura's Govardhan area, will not be held this year. Devotees will not be allowed to gather for the Chaturmas festival as well.

The findings of a new study from UC San Francisco suggests that among non-hospitalized patients the antibiotic azithromycin was no more effective than a placebo in preventing symptoms of COVID-19. Despite widespread prescription of the antibiotic for the disease, it might increase the chance of hospitalization.

The study, which was conducted in collaboration with Stanford University, appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

India recorded 38,079 new coronavirus cases, which took the infection tally to 3,10,64,908, while the death toll reached 4,13,091 with 560 more fatalities, according to Union health ministry data updated on Saturday.

The active cases have declined to 4,24,025 and comprise 1.36 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 97.31 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The White House Covid Response team is warning Americans that the US outbreak is becoming "a pandemic of the unvaccinated" and nearly all hospital admissions and deaths are now among those who have not got their shots.

More than 160 million Americans are already vaccinated but Covid-19 is now surging in all 50 states, riding on the delta variant and slowing vaccination rates. Virus maps and models are awash in red. Emergency room physicians are wringing their hands over the mixed signals on masks earlier in the season.

The overall global Covid-19 caseload has topped 188.9 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 4.07 million and vaccinations soared to over 3.56 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Saturday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload, death toll and the total number of vaccine doses administered stood at 189,441,350, 4,074,120 and 3,567,645,976, respectively.

In a key decision, preliminary exams for the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC), except for Group 1 posts, have been dropped, APPSC member Shaik Salam Babu informed.

Additionally, 10 per cent of all the posts will be reserved for EWS (Economically Weaker Section) candidates in future notifications, and the number of jobs in various posts will also be increased.

The Centre on Friday told the Delhi High Court that clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccines for children under 18 years of age are going on and on the verge of completion.

A policy will be formed by the government and children will be vaccinated when experts give permission, the Centre said.

India recorded 38,949 new COVID-19 cases, which took the infection tally to 3,10,26,829, while the death toll reached 4,12,531 with 542 more fatalities, according to Union health ministry data updated on Friday.

The active cases have declined to 4,30,422 and comprise 1.39 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 97.28 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed.

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